This ideas time has come!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Thomas Mills on November 2, 2009 at 9:09pm

Let's hope your ideas are infectious Matt.

Please know that there will soon be a BrandCentral space on campus. it will be a physical manifestation of the cyberspace network and a place to connect, to learn, to contribute. We'll keep you posted once final details have been confirmed.

Thank you for the call to action. Others take note!

You can reach me at tmills@kvcc.edu. Let's talk.

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Permalink Reply by Matt MacCarron on November 3, 2009 at 9:24am

Good to hear! There needs to be an energy behind this, something unavoidably present, something unified and collaborated. I'm lovin the big banners around campus. They're attention getters and conversation starters. People are talking, but the topic isn't very clear. Sudden change can sometimes bring about confusion and dissimulation instead of excitement and production. There is also the ever-present malaise; the content individual whose lack of care is infectious. That's why energy and unification is so important. Omnipresent vitality cannot be ignored and is infinitely more contagious; nobody will be able to remain neutral.

What are some of your other ideas about getting the word out? Perhaps some which are in the plan and still to come?

This project is a way of creating the identity for one of the anchors of Kalamazoo and Western Michigan as a whole. The current one is outdated, and helps perpetuate a stigma KVCC doesn't deserve. It's without a doubt important for the school...but why the student? I'm sure most would say that once they're out of here, the memory is all this place will leave behind. That doesn't have to be true, and I believe that if this place had a younger identity that mirrors what is relevant in our lives, the footprint left by KVCC will remain in our thoughts as less of an obstacle and more of a powerful piece of the overall puzzle. That will create a drive to return the favor; former students will want to return, perhaps help in the future in some way. The best way to identify the irrelevancies of this generation, and perhaps those to come, is to offer the need for help.

My foremost concern has to do with the confusion. Most students are just totally in the dark about what these little clues in the hallway really mean. However, if anything, if one has passed a banner, it's undoubtedly been planted within their subconscious. Soon the action should be to nurture that seed. I think everyone could be enticed by a call for help; asking for their input and welcoming it with open arms.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Mills on November 3, 2009 at 2:28pm

Very interested in your thoughts Matt.

We are pretty heavily strapped for time over the next few days...let's schedule a meeting next week. Will that work for you? Shoot us some available time slots and we'll get back to you.

In the meantime Thomas Wrench, myself and members of the Branding Team will try to respond to your initial questions asap. Hang tight. We'll be back.

Pondering your meaning...(The best way to identify the irrelevancies of this generation, and perhaps those to come, is to offer the need for help.)?

(I think everyone could be enticed by a call for help; asking for their input and welcoming it with open arms.) Agreed.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Ratliff on November 4, 2009 at 1:49pm

Excellent commentary, Matt. You caught my attention with, "I believe that if this place had a younger identity that mirrors what is relevant in our lives, the footprint left by KVCC will remain in our thoughts as less of an obstacle and more of a powerful piece of the overall puzzle."

As a KVCC employee (librarian), I am always interested in student ideas and reactions. For the next couple of weeks I'll be studying student lifestyles and general societal trends to help KVCC plan for its future. If you'd consider joining the KVCC Brand Central group "Student Lifestyles, Socal Trends and KVCC's Future", I'd be honored to have your ideas, reactions and your classmates' involvement in the discussion. Please take a look at the group and give me your thoughts on a topic of your own or a reaction to one of the articles/topics I posted on the group's page. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Molly Pfaff on November 4, 2009 at 11:30am

I originally posted this comment on one of the blogs, but I wanted to bring into the realm of discussion, so here it is, my two cents on the subject of the video:

I thought the jumpcuts were distracting. While the overall style was effective (I liked the black and white- a tribute to the style of the "I'm going to Valley" adverts?) it was also much too long. I understand it was made to go along with a presentation for teachers, but as the face of this website, which is intended for students, it's a bit much.

I think there should have been something more to convey a sense of time and movement from subject to subject. While there were short transitions, I was mostly unaware that the topic of the interviews was changing, and didn't catch the flow of the video until I read it explained in the forum. Then again, maybe I wasn't paying enough attention because, all in all, I think an equally informative presentation could have been done in about half the time, if not less, because information is nothing without impact. If it takes 15 minutes to get to the conclusion, by which point I know I had zoned out, as will many college students who have other, non-school related things on their minds, then the impact is diminished, despite the amount of information presented.

Any chance of opening it up for someone else to contribute? I don't have any serious editing experience beyond my own experiments, but I want to go into film editing so it's something I feel strongly about, and I've got some concepts I'd love to play around with.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Wrench on November 4, 2009 at 12:42pm

We are currently working on a shorter, more graphic intensive approach to this video.

Our hope is to get it down to 4 minutes.

If you would like to work on it with me, message me and we can set something up.

Thanks Molly.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Muir on February 15, 2010 at 7:04pm

Hello.

I'm having a terrible time organizing my disgust with the brand .edyou's approach to commercializing the KVCC educational experience, so please bear with me as I attempt to numerate my complaints.

1. The Splash Page. When I first encountered the .edyou splash page I thought KVCC's website had been hacked. After taking the time to realize that this was representative of a movement to transform the image of KVCC, I balked. The apparently legitimate splash page poses itself as an invitation to join in the discussion of KV .edyou, but clearly is not. Invitations arrive via mail, electronic or otherwise, not in front of a person's workspace. And that's what KVCC's webpage is supposed to be, isn't it? An extension of the job--often full-time job--of education, both teaching and learning? The splash page has all the charm of pop-up internet advertisements, spam and phishing scams, thoroughly obstructing any productive use of what is otherwise a useful internet resource. Register for classes? Join the discussion first. Check the academic calendar? Join the discussion. Access VIP? Join the discussion. Check school e-mail? Join the discussion. The splash page is obstructive and clearly, loudly proclaims KVCC's new educational goal: Let's talk about branding.

2. The Concept. I understand the interest in branding. Apple could elect a new iPresident if they wanted to because of their lucrative marketing schemes. KVCC is more than just an educational center--it's a business. It makes sense that it would be interested in capturing the minds of the iGeneration, but to what end? The point of education, as I've been lead to believe, has been to generate centers of debate and independent thought, where individuality grows beyond having a favorite color and band to having a true sense of self, and having the critical thinking resources necessary to back one's choices and chart one's path. How, then, can any self-respecting school choose to put Branding at the top of their agenda and try to get students excited about jumping onto the bandwagon? Focusing on branding isn't the same as getting people excited about their education, their future, or their community--it's about being part of the 'it' crowd.

3. The Message. "Attend KVCC because it focuses on branding! You can Twitter, facebook, blog, chat about .edyou because we're putting money into making your education a trendy thing!" Commercial Branding began as putting a seal of approval on a product to incite feelings of loyalty. To succeed, it required that people would associate one product with quality--or at the very least, a consistent level of quality--and that the promise of that same level of familiarity and quality would transfer to other products carrying the seal of approval. Coke doesn't sell people T-shirts because it says "Coke-a-cola" on them, it sells t-shirts because people like coke as a drink. Harvard doesn't sell hats and mugs with their name on them because people think the word "Harvard" has a pleasant intonation when spoken aloud, they sell mugs because people want to be associated with the level of education the school is renowned for. Forgive the spoonerism, but trying to put the Brand before the product is Bass Ackwards. Asking people to discuss the KVCC brand is tantamount to acknowledging that, without it, there would be nothing related to KVCC worth talking about. It's suggesting that because students can't be expected to come to the institution because of it's record, they'll come because it looks trendy.

4. The Response. My response has been brewing for as long as .edyou has been deployed. I've wanted to give feedback about this branding since the beginning and to point out some of my grave concerns--but the .edyou movement isn't really set up to receive criticism, is it? If a person doesn't want to join the community and join the discussion, what form is their for their dissent? It's difficult to ignore the hypocrisy of signing up for the thing you disapprove of simply to express one's disapproval. To give feedback, one must first join the ranks of the brand junkies, or there will be no record of disapproval. Does anyone really think that such a prerequisite doesn't color the discussion? If the brand's purported interest in creating a discussion was in earnest, wouldn't it best be served by a truly open forum? It's either that or continue preaching to the choir.

In spite of this all, I truly do not disapprove of the concept of cultivating the KVCC brand--what is abhorrent to me is the process currently underway to define that brand. It is absolutely imperative that the discussion shift from .edyou to KVCC's accomplishments instead. Let the Cougars be the name under which the students unite, and give them reason with leading edge education and opportunity. Let the brand and school pride be a product of students' pride in their institution, NOT by artificial means. Give education back the respect it deserves as the primary concern of this community.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Mills on February 16, 2010 at 6:48pm

Thank you Robert.

It's very interesting to witness and consider the significant amount of thought you've put into studying and responding to the .edyou™ concept.

Are these rhetorical questions that you posted here? Are you truly interested in conversation and dialogue that may counter, though not criticize, your point of view?

I'd say you did a fairly good job of organizing your thoughts and stating your perspective. It's obvious that you have the critical thinking resources to postulate a point of view. We will talk with you, accept your criticism and welcome your willingness to help cultivate the KVCC brand.

We'll get back to you as time permits.

Thanks again for taking the initiative to engage us.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Muir on February 16, 2010 at 10:30pm

The questions in my post were largely rhetorical. I didn't intend to actually ask the question of whether or not the primary objective of the KVCC webpage was to serve the KVCC community--but if that or any of my other postulations are subject to response, I welcome it. I welcome it, but only if it truly addresses the core of my concerns, and isn't dismissible as an attempt to spin the discussion. My core concerns are as follows:

The splash page at the KVCC webpage quite literally puts the brand before the education. It needs to go.

The idea of putting a focus on brand cultivation is the same as cultivating group-think, which is wholely unproductive to education. Brand management needs to be figuratively in the background as well as literally.

It is an embarrassment to all involved with KVCC when KVCC's public face talks more about the image of the university than its substance. KVCC's accomplishments should be the primary drive to informing the brand's image.

To get closer to a true read on the brand's affect and our response to it, membership to your discussion boards cannot be a prerequisite. Not only that, the community of concern is relatively small and anyone involved in it has a high likelihood of passing anyone else involved in it within a week's time. The absence of anonymity from these forums ensures that only passionate disapproval is likely to see the light of day--that all other responses will be omitted or edited so as not to publicly contradict with the perceived populist perspective. While this is obviously an advantage from a commercial perspective if you've managed to cultivate a positive initial response, it is a disservice to the community and discussion at large.

Thank you for considering these points.

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Permalink Reply by Matt MacCarron on February 16, 2010 at 11:57pm

I saw this whole thing as a way of connecting student to college in another way. It's not for everyone, and it couldn't be; nothing is.

So I can see what you're talking about with the splash page in that it forces one to take a moment to consider it, like a television ad or something. I guess that whole deal boils down to how you perceive the college and what the college means to you. I also agree that it can be taken down at this point...the .edu banners are everywhere on the campuses now anyway.

Another purpose I find in Brand Central is a giving the students a way to submit their ideas, which is not a bad thing. And signing up for the ability to do that alone does seem trivial, however it is necessary if said student would like to upload a picture or communicate on a more individual level with someone. This isn't supposed to be something like Craigslist.

Your idea of KVCC advertising itself by using its academic record is a perfect-world scenario. In the end this is just a community college. I think what they're trying to do here is remove the "CC" from the everyday association to the school or from the personal vernacular of the community because it does come with that unwanted stigma. So in that sense, this whole website and branding and the splash page and all the rest is just a nice sort of misdirection. If they were to pop a new brand out of nowhere overnight it would be pretty alarming.

But yeah. I agree about the splash page.

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Mills on March 2, 2010 at 9:21am

Signing up serves a purpose that you might not consider at first glance...it enables the network administrator, Thomas Wrench, to control and delete unwanted spam from reaching all of us who participate in here (the ning network/BrandCentral/Online).

Thomas can elaborate if you need additional information.

We certainly understand and appreciate your perspectives (Matt/Robert) regarding the Landing Page. It's something we debated at length before implementing this step in the branding process because we knew that it inserted a step in front of the information you are accessing regularly on the website. But, since the Kalamazoo Valley website will take a significant amount of time to rebuild using brand-centric iconography, we elected to take this step to draw wide-scale attention to the new brand. It's temporary. It was not intended to hinder students.

Please know, the school is very circumspect when it comes to spending money and this option offered a means to reach many, many of our 14,000+/- students and key constituents at virtually no cost.

Thanks for your input and thank you for your patience.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Muir on March 2, 2010 at 9:22pm

I would think that spam could be deleted by an administrator, regardless of whether or not a person has created an account, and that the time tested 'captcha' approach to forum control could help curb the onslaught of spam. If multiple forum branches were under log-in lock-and-key and only one public forum was open to the public sans signup, the ease of moderation would be greater still.

Also, with 14,000 +/- students, there comes 14,000 +/- e-mail addresses. As I'm sure you've thought of this, I can only conclude that the splash page approach was exactly what I've described it as--an indicator that this initiative is more important than any other notification KVCC could send out--that this initiative is more important than anything else we could possibly be doing at KVCC.

I'm also starting to suspect that the forums' invitation to participate in a dialogue could be more appropriately described as the brand's invitation to rationalize its decisions and continue on its course with only token consideration to student concerns.

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